Cold Cucumber Soup
1 large chilled English cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh red chili pepper (optional)
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons vinegar
5-6 cherry tomatoes, sliced (optional)
1 cup cold water
7-8 ice cubes (1 cup)
1- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, ground
Directions
1. Cut the cucumber into 3-inch long thin matchsticks/slices and put them into a chilled mixing bowl.
2. Add your garlic, green onion, and red chili pepper (if used).
3. Add the salt, soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar. Mix well, gently with a spoon until the salt and sugar are well dissolved.
4. Add the water, ice cubes, and the sliced tomato (if used), and gently mix with a spoon. Let ice cubes dissolve.
5. Spoon 4 portions into individual bowls, sprinkle sesame seeds on top, and serve right away with rice (optional) on the side.
It can be served with a side of rice, but it does just fine on its own as a refreshing, easy-to-digest, and healthy summer soup!
I was in search of a little sheet pan inspiration recently, and found a recipe that I liked but lacked
a few ingredients—so I improvised and was thrilled with the results. This recipe is nutritious,
easy to make, and alpha-gal friendly. Don’t feel shy about using different vegetables or adjusting the ingredients to your liking—experimentation makes food fun!
Ingredients:
1 lb raw tiger shrimp
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch Kale, roughly chopped
3/4 red onion, cut into thin slices
1 zucchini, sliced into thin quarters
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, cut into halves
6-7 kalamata olives, sliced
Salt, pepper to your liking (I like to go heavy on the pepper) Italian seasoning to taste (I like to add some additional oregano OR basil—but not both)
Marinated artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes also make a nice addition
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°F
In large bowl, mix kale, red onion slices, kalamata olives, zucchini, 1⁄2 of the minced garlic,
lemon juice from 1⁄2 lemon. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a couple of dashes of the
herbs. Toss well.
In a separate bowl, add peeled and deveined tiger shrimp (pat w/ a paper towel to remove
moisture), the remaining garlic, juice from remaining half of the lemon, remaining olive oil, salt
and pepper to taste, and a couple dashes of the herbs. Toss.
While your shrimp is marinating, add vegetable mixture to an 8x8 glass baking dish. Cover with
aluminum foil and cook for 8-10 minutes, then remove from oven.
Add just a light drizzle of olive oil to the dish, and add marinated shrimp. Cover in aluminum
foil and return to the oven for 6 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and cook another 8 minutes, or
until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Serve immediately and enjoy!
As mentioned, this dish is alpha-gal safe. If consuming dairy is not a concern for you, consider
topping with a few crumbles of feta cheese.
For even more delicious recipes, check out our Facebook Group, Raja Wellness Ways to Health where we also share more tips and inspiration for healthy living!
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Source: BT Leigh's
Time to bring out the grill and try this amazing Grilled Trout recipe that’s “clean plate” approved!
Ingredients:
4 fresh trout filets, skin-on
1 bottle of Jalapeño Business
2 limes
1 lemon
A neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Heat your grill to 250 degrees. Make sure your grill grates are properly cleaned so the trout does not stick.
While your grill is heating, slice up one lime and one lemon. Make sure to slice the fruits fairly thin.
Lightly coat your trout filets in oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the trout on the grill, skin side down. Next to the trout, place the citrus slices in approximately the same size as the filet - usually about 3 slices.
Take a brush and apply a thin layer of Jalapeño Business on the citrus and the fish.
Be careful to watch your fish. Trout will cook quickly on the grill and will be done when the flesh is flakey and white. This should be approximately 3 minutes. If its a bigger filet, be sure to flip it onto the citrus bed halfway through cooking. For a smaller filet, flip it onto the lemon-lime layer just before it finishes cooking. Be sure to brush the skin with some Jalapeño Business!
Serve immediately, and enjoy!
This is a great "set and go" chicken recipe using a slow cooker! Ground coriander adds a floral and citrus-y zest! You can use the chicken in many other dishes, get creative! Goes great with just a bed of rice, but also can be diced up for salads or on the side of a heaping plate of steamed fresh vegetables.
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons organic brown sugar
2 Teaspoons garlic
1 Tablespoon ginger
1 chopped yellow onion
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/4 Pound chicken breast
2 sliced carrots
2 Cups cooked sushi rice (optional)
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/4 Cup water
1/4 Cup diced cilantro
Directions:
1) In a slow cooker, stir together soy sauce, sugar, garlic, onion, vinegar, coriander, and salt and pepper. Add chicken and carrots, toss to coat. Cover and cook on low until chicken is tender, about 6 hours.
2) (optional) Cook rice according to package instructions.
3) In a small saucepan, whisk cornstarch with water. Ladle about half of the cooking liquid from the slow cooker into the pan; whisk to combine. Bring to a boil; cook until thickened, about 1 minute.
4) Serve the chicken with sauce and rice if desired, and garnish with cilantro.
Not only does bone broth provide a variety of health benefits, it’s also delicious and adds complexity and richness to various dishes when used as an ingredient. It’s easy to make, and is a great way to utilize vegetable and herb scraps!
Ingredients:
1 organic whole chicken (you can certainly just use the bones for bone broth, but I find using a whole chicken adds more nutritional value as well as flavor. I typically use the leftover cooked meat to make chicken salad)
2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Water
Salt (I recommend using a nutrient dense salt such as Gray Sea Salt)
In-season spring herbs and vegetables (I like to freeze my vegetable and herbs scraps and use those) You can use any variety you choose, but pick at least 3 different items to use. Consider using these springtime favorites:
Directions:
Add whole chicken to stock pot, cover with water. Add apple cider vinegar and salt (add a generous amount of salt). Allow to sit for 30-45 minutes with no heat—this allows the apple cider vinegar and salt to pull nutrients from the chicken.
Bring pot to boil and boil chicken for an hour. As chicken boils, remove “scum” from the surface using a large spoon.
Remove chicken from the pot and allow it to cool enough to handle. Remove skin, add back to pot. Separate the meat from the bones and add bones back to the stock pot and return to boil. Save chicken meat for chicken salad, sandwiches, or another quick meal.
Add your choice of spring vegetables and herbs (or scraps) to the pot. Cover with lid, reduce heat to low and cook for 16-24 hours. You may wish to add more salt, or even add a little lemon juice to the pot for flavor.
Remove bones from the pot, and strain broth. I prefer to add my broth to mason jars and once sufficiently cooled, refrigerate.
Enjoy a cup of bone broth on its own, use it as a soup base or for cooking pasta, as a flavorful and nutritious addition to a sauce, stew, or marinade. It is freezable as well—I like to add my bone broth to an ice cube tray and add a cube to pretty much whatever I’m cooking for dinner. The possibilities are endless and delicious!
With a few simple ingredients, you can put together a healthy, easy dinner the whole family will love. This dish is also alpha-gal friendly. So break out your apron, and enjoy a little time in the kitchen preparing something tasty!
I highly recommend telling the family the kitchen is off limits; prepare your favorite mocktail, and turn on your favorite podcast while you throw this together!
Preheat oven to 375 and prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish by lightly greasing the dish.
Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a skillet on high heat. Season chicken breast on both sides by lightly sprinkling garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, dried thyme (if desired), and salt and pepper. I’m not adding exact measurements here, we each have different palates. Just sprinkle until it feels right—but not too heavily. Add chicken to pan, cooking for about 2 minutes per side (until brown and slightly crispy).
While the chicken is cooking, whip up your honey mustard sauce.
In a bowl, combine ½ tbsp olive oil, honey, all three mustards, a shake of pepper, and white wine or white wine vinegar. Whisk together.
Move chicken to glass dish, and pour honey mustard mixture over it, flip and add more sauce. Make sure the chicken breasts are fully dressed in sauce.
Add a couple pats of vegan butter to the dish, and a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary on top of the chicken.
Cover in aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.
Uncover and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on size and thickness of chicken breasts. Chicken tenderloins will take less time.
Serve with steamed broccoli or a side salad and enjoy!
We all know that dilemma of “what to make for dinner?” One day I was staring at a lovely fresh pineapple my husband had gotten me trying to figure out what to do with it. I thought hey, chicken and pineapple go well together and we have some grass-fed chicken breasts to use, so that’s a start. And we had some veggies to grill on the side. But I also wanted some rice (because I can only do so much riced cauliflower before I need a little break) - and I don’t like to use a lot of pots because I am a lazy cook. So I glanced at the pressure cooker waiting to be put up from making the weekly steel cut oats earlier that day and I was inspired….Would it be possible to make pressure cooker risotto and also cook my chicken in the delicious juices at the same time? Some googling found lots of recipes for mushroom chicken risotto doing just that and I had my solution. It could be wonderful or awful - but all new recipes have that potential.
So, the end result was absolutely wonderful - a sweet and spicy nod to traditional jerk flavors with the creamy lush texture of risotto. I will do my best to share the recipe with you, but keep in mind that if you like more sweetness you may want to add more brown sugar. If you use canned pineapple, you may need less. Ours had a gentle heat, but a little more cayenne or chili sauce could easily crank up the fire if that’s more to your taste. You can use pre-cooked chicken and probably could use fish or other mild meats with this dish - even a mild Italian sausage. I wanted leftovers for lunch so I used a full pound (2C) of rice but you can adjust the ratios for more or less. My pressure cooker is not a fancy Instapot - but I’m sure you can adapt this for most pots.
Set the rice to soak for at least 30 minutes in cold water - I always do this with rice before cooking. While the rice is soaking: Peel and core your pineapple (if using canned - time to open the can). Marinate the chicken in a brine of chicken broth (add just enough to cover the meat), 1 lime juiced, cores from pineapple (if using canned pineapple, add the juice and a few chunks to the marinade), about ⅓ C brown sugar, a little “Slap Ya Momma” seasoning, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Set aside for 30 minutes and prep your veggies or other desired sides. Dice some garlic if you want to add it (I used 2 cloves).
Back to the rice - drain and rinse well, set aside in a strainer. Preheat the oven to about 400 for the veggies (if desired). Use the “saute” or “brown” mode in your pot - if you don’t have one you will need an extra pan and to do this over med high heat on the stove top. Add in 2 Tbsp olive oil, pineapple chunks, diced garlic and saute until tender and pineapple is starting to brown (the fancy word I believe is caramelized). Add in ½ C cooking wine (whatever white-ish type you have on hand, or like I used this time a Chinese cooking wine) and 1 Tbsp butter. Add in rice and stir until rice has absorbed the liquid. Add in about 4 C of the remaining chicken stock, your chicken, stir well and switch to “rice mode” or other default that will give you 10 min cooking time. If you are doing grilled veggies as a side - place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil and put them in the preheated oven. While the pressure cooker gets going, relax, set the table, do some chores, whatever. Periodically check the veggies to make sure they are cooking to your desired doneness.
At the end of the cooking time “quick release” the pressure, stir and you should be ready to serve your delicious sweet and spicy risotto with your favorite veggies or sides (or simply enjoy the main dish!). This made plenty for two adults with leftovers for lunch for two, though a little more chicken would have been ideal. Please, be sure your chicken is cooked if you aren’t using pre-cooked chicken...and that’s all there is to it!
Cook pasta according to package instructions to al dente.
While pasta is cooking, add butter to separate pan on medium high heat and sauté onions 1 minute, add garlic and sauté 1 more minute.
Add mushrooms to pan and sauté 2-3 minutes.
Add zucchini and tomatoes to pan, cook another 3-4 minutes, add wine to pan.
Add dried basil, salt and pepper to taste and simmer on medium-low heat
In bowl, add crumbled goat cheese, stir in pesto.
When pasta is done, drain and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.
Add hot pasta directly to bowl with goat cheese pesto, toss to coat.
Add in sautéed vegetables.
Stir in 1-2 tbsp reserved pasta water at a time until desired consistency is reached.
I came across this idea online and decided to test it out - I love using silicone muffin tins for baking eggs and leftover veggies for a quick breakfast, but these looked nicely portable and easy to make for breakfast on the run. My initial idea to create a phyllo, pear and prosciutto tart today was derailed by the fact that I always forget phyllo needs a day in the fridge before I can hope to use it - and I was hungry now. So let the testing begin!
After chopping the garlic, let it sit on the cutting board for several minutes, this increases its disease-fighting potential by making an enzyme called allicin more potent.
Heat a teaspoon of sesame oil in a large pot on medium high heat. Add onions and sauté 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, sauté another minute, and then add ginger, sautéing an additional minute.
Add stock and bring to a boil. Add salt and soy sauce.
Add raw chicken breasts and rice to pot, continue boiling on medium high heat.
Cook for 10 minutes, remove chicken breasts. Cover pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Chop chicken into small pieces, add back to pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with scallions.
